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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Hi Friends! Happy Sunday! I worked on these layered, felt, fabric, crochet flowers this morning. I initially were going to create them with just felt but decided to add the fabric and crochet flowers instead. I thought it looked more interesting with the other textures. To the center I added the rhinestone. I listed this set of flowers in my Etsy shop: Inspired & Unscripted. I think I'm going to make a few extras for myself and create maybe a few cards and tags with them.

Here is a close up of the flower. I'll create more in different colors and fabric. I'm having fun creating different types of flowers and embellishments. It's like an art in itself despite being just an embellishment.

This is a revamped card. I made this a while back but I decided it needed revamping.

This is actually a jewelry pendant/charm but added it to the card instead. It's fun mixing jewelry components on paper crafting projects.

To revamp the card I added the layered crochet and satin rosette to the ribbon. It originally was just a plain bow but I thought the bow needed some sprucing up.

Are you all enjoying your summer? It's been a mellow one for me this year. My daughter decided to take two summer school sessions this summer . . .I wanted to go on a road trip this summer but it's not happening this year. That's okay. . .it gives me more time to play in my craft room which is a fun journey in itself.

Anyway, that's it for today! Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Hey Friends! Happy Saturday! It's Crazy 4 Challenges time again! This week Cindy came up with another great challenge. . .this time, the challenge is to create a "Tent Card". Well, this is a new one for me. . I've never created a tent card. Be sure to play along with us this week!!! We can't wait to see your beautiful card!

A tent card is sort of like a box card. You can't open it like a normal card but it's a card you can set on your desk like you would a picture frame. A good idea would probably be to add a photo on the inside.

I decided to add a sentiment to inside. Initially I was going to add an image but changed my mind.

I decided to sew a lace flower and add a pearl to the center and stick a beaded pin to it. Nothing much else to discuss about my card. The designer papers are by SEI. . .they're such a pretty papers . . I love them!

Anyway. . .I'm going to cut it short! That's it for today. . .hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

Friday, July 29, 2011

Hi Friends! I finally made a bunch of new fabric flowers that I listed on Etsy. I've been sort of sitting on it for the past weeks. I do have a ton of pretty fabrics and I was debating whether to make "finished" projects such as bags, aprons, and such. I decided I'll work on flowers for now and when I have more time, I'll work on other sewn items.

Anyway. . .just a little info on the flowers. They measure 2.5 x 2.5". They may be too large for card projects but they can be used for hair accessories such as headbands and clips or altered projects such as boxes and other gift items.

I bought a few yards of satin fabrics and made these satin/lace cabbage/rose style flowers. They're great for shabby chic projects.

This set is a colorful one. I love the pretty flower prints. Again, measuring 2.5 x 2.5". I'll see if I can create an altered box and add some of my fabric flowers to the design so you can see how they look on altered projects. I was thinking of making headbands with them . . .I have a lot of different ideas on what to do with the flowers. I just need to find the time to actually work on them!

Anyway. . .I'll probably work on a few cards or tags for the rest of the day. It's going to be a fun day for sure! I love Fridays! I think Friday is my favorite day. What is your favorite day?

Well, what ever day is your favorite, I hope you all have a beautiful Friday!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Hello Friends!! Hey, no allergies today and I'm also back on Facebook! I decided to cut my Facebook sabbatical short. I was able to stay off Facebook for close to two weeks without updating my status or logging in to read my friend's updates. I thought I would have a difficult time because honestly, I was a bit addicted to Facebook. I mean, you're addicted if you're on there posting what you ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, where you're shopping, when you woke up, when you're going to bed. . .LOL! I do find it hilarious . . .I don't think I was that bad but I do know a few people who do post updates ALL day!

I did log in on Facebook to wish my friends happy birthday but other than that, I remained off the site and it actually wasn't too difficult. I was tempted the first few days to log in and post a status but after a few days, I really didn't think about it much. So. . .all you FB addicts, you can be cured of your addiction. . .just take a break. . . hehe!Anyway. . .I did create this post to actually talk about my card. Nothing really different about it from my other shabby chic cards. I did sew the lace flower which I don't think I've added to any of my cards in the past. I then topped the lace flower with a satin rosette and stuck a pin that I had added beads to embellish it a bit.I also added a few additional silk flowers. I usually use Prima flowers but I have a bunch of silk flowers in my stash so I decided to use them instead.

I stamped the sentiment and cut it to look like a banner and embellished it with a heart button. That's about it!

Anyway, gotta run. . .I need to pick up my daughter at the bus stop! Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday evening!!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Hi Friends! Gosh, the past 2 days have been bad allergy days for me! I could barely see or think straight but after taking an allergy medication today I was able to actually create a card. I was really motivated this morning but I just could not function. Thank goodness my allergy medication worked. After I felt better, I decided to do some creating and worked on "revamping" a card I had previously made. Do you have handmade cards that are out dated or maybe needs a little oomph to it? Well I felt this card was missing a little something so I decided to revamp it by adding a few extra embellishments to it.

I added the Prima rose to what was originally just the daisy Prima flower. It also didn't have a sentiment. It was just a plain note card with no theme to it but I decided a sentiment needed to be added to the card.

To create the grid pattern I used my Scor-pal and in a diagonal direction created the pattern by scoring every 1/2 inch then to dress it up a little, I added micro beads to the connecting points of the pattern.

It's funny how a pretty Prima rose can make such a difference to a card. I'm in love with Prima flowers!

There were a lot of white space around the sentiment and I didn't like how it looked so I added the dew drops to eliminate some of the white space and to add some balance.

Anyway. . .I'm hoping to be able to work on a few things this evening. Hopefully, my allergies don't return! Hope y'all are having a wonderful evening!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Hi Friends! Happy Sunday! I created this shabby chic card this afternoon. I worked on crocheting a motif yesterday and decided to see how it would look on my card. I bought a book with different crochet motif designs and I liked this one because it looks like a flower. You can't really tell how it looks because I layered it with the silk flowers and smaller crochet flowers.

I found a scrap piece with buttons attached to the ric rac and decided to add it to my card. I believe I created it to use on a different card but decided not to use it. I like finding pieces that I created and set aside. . .sometimes it may not work for one design but works perfectly with another. I do that often. . .so I have a lot of scrap pieces and embellishments that I put together but don't end up using. It's sometimes feel like I found a treasure when I finally do find use for them. . .hehe!

I did a bit of sewing on my card. . .I decided to sew stitches on to the heart and around the card. Anyway. . .that's about it for today! Hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Hello Friends!!! It's Crazy 4 Challenges time again and this week Cindy came up with a challenging challenge! LOL! Boy Cindy is coming with some great challenges this month. . .it's the outside of the box type of challenges and I'm lovin' it! This week's challenge is to create a shaker card! Wow, I haven't created a shaker card in over a year or maybe 2. Hope you'll play along with us this week. If you've never created a shaker card. . . .here is a link to the Splitcoast tutorial that you can use.

Okay. . .I'm going shabby chic again. I'm really having fun making this style of cards because I get to use materials that I didn't use often in the past and well, they were gathering dust from neglect.

Flowers . . .yeah, I have a lot of them. . .might as well use them. If I don't use them, I can't buy more of them because it would be rather silly to continue to buy them if I don't use them. My Prima flowers have been receiving a lot of love lately. Of course, I added lace to my card. . . .I'm in love with them!

To create the shaker part of my card, I used my Nestabilites die. . .stamped the bird image using my Unity Stamp and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I then embellished the shaker with pearl beads and seam binding bow.

Yeah, it's my crochet flower again! Because I've been selling on Etsy. . .one of the items I've been selling are my crochet flowers . . .I make some to sell, then I keep some for my self. I topped the crochet flower with a satin cabbage style rose. I added it to the seam binding bow dyed in pink. That's basically it!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Hi Friends! Before I begin. . .I decided to take a Facebook Sabbatical. . .meaning, I'm taking a short break from loggingin on Facebook. My blog post will still filter to Facebook so I guess to some degree, I'm still on there. I just don't log in to check or post any updates. I'm doing a personal social experiment. The experiment is to see if I can stay off Facebook for a while. I'm usually on there daily and post updates throughout the day. It can be a bit addicting . . .it's sort of a bad habit to some degree. It's funny how we sometimes become sucked into the social aspects of Facebook but I have to admit it's a great sharing and networking tool. I'm thinking of staying off for at least 2 weeks if I can stand it! Haha!

Anyway. . .now down to business. . .I worked a card this morning. Whoohoo! I'm trying to be versatile with my card making designs. Shabby Chic cards are sort of the trend right now but I don't like being boxed into particular style so some days I'll work on Shabby Chic style, then cute style, then distressed vintage or elegant style. . .it depends mostly on my mood and what I feel like doing at the moment.

Today. . I was in the mood for Shabby Chic. Hehe! I created a bunch of silk flower crochet rosette embellishments and I did list it in my Etsy Shop: Inspired & Unscripted. I made a bunch for myself as well so when I need them I have them readily available. I used my Unity Stamp sentiment and Sizzzix label die to create the sentiment focus of the card.

What's shabby chic without lace, a seam binding bow, and buttons, right? And of course, we can't forget pink, blue, white, and yellow colors! It's sort of nice because it's a great way to use up materials when the color palette is limited to a few colors.

Here is a close up of the silk flower embellishments that I created. I used my handmade crochet flowers and added a satin rosette to the center.

I also worked on seam binding beaded pin flower bow embellishments that I also listed. I plan to work on more of these in different colors. I have a nice stock of them for myself as well so when I need them for a project, I already have them available rather than having to put them together at the time I'm actually creating the card or project. It makes life easier to have them already made.

Anyway.. . I have a lot of things to work on today. . .I need to get back to creating! Hope you all have a fabulous Thursday.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Hi Friends!!! I've been a busy girl this weekend! I've been wanting to create different colors of crochet flowers so I decided to actually work on them. I listed them in my Etsy Shop: Inspired & Unscripted.

Crocheting is really fun. I like to crochet especially if I'm waiting somewhere, such as at the doctor's office or while I'm watching television. LOL! There's something very therapeutic about it. . .and it keeps me from falling asleep or becoming bored.

I hand dyed the crochet flowers in a variety of colors. Right now I listed Fuchsia, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, white, antique white, vanilla, marigold yellow, royal blue, light blue, lavender lace, and mixed turquoise colors. I plan to add more colors soon. The close up of this bunch is in marigold yellow. I have a lighter yellow too but I haven't had a chance to take photos of them.

This bunch is in Fuchsia.

This bunch is in antique white.

I'm planning to work on different designs and larger ones too, including motifs and mini doilies. These crochet flowers measures 1.5 x 1.5". All of them are made with crochet threads. . .not yarn so they lay nicely flat on cards and scrapbook projects. I've been using them a lot on my card making projects. .. I usually layer them with prima and satin flowers or add buttons or pearls to the center. It's fun adding other embellishments to them because it changes the look of each flower to something unique.

Anyway. . that's it for today. I need to work on a few projects today. Stop by my Etsy Shop: Inspired & Unscripted if you're interested in crochet flowers. I have a bunch listed right now.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Hello Friends! It's a lovely day today. . .not only is it sunny but it's Crazy 4 Challenges time again. This week Cindy came up with another fabulous challenge!! The challenge is to create a "Joy Fold Card"! I haven't created this card in ages! I just love creating cards with different folds. . .unfortunately, most times I'm always in a rush to finish a card that I don't take the time to explore different ways to create a card! It's actually quite simple to make! Try it out and play along with us this week.

I decided to create a shabby chic card this week. Quite honestly, I'm still learning to create them. I'm rather limited on shabby chic types of embellishments so for now, I have to basically create my own by crocheting flowers, making fabric flowers, and using the lace and trimmings I currently have. I promised myself that I won't buy any new materials using existing money that I have because we're planning another European trip. If I want to buy more stuff, I have to sell my old stuff or stick to using what I already have.

The Joy Fold Card has a smaller inner card that folds over the outer flap to hold it down. It opens up to the smaller inner card and you can write your sentiment inside.

I crochet the scallop style motif using a crochet coaster pattern. . .I have a lot of crochet doily patterns but I haven't sat down to actually work on them. I may start crocheting mini doilies and motifs soon. I just need to find time to fit them in. Crocheting doilies and motifs do take a lot of time especially when using crochet threads. . .it's a lot stitches. I layered the smaller crochet flower over the motif and added a satin rosette.

As for the image, it's an image I found online but I can't remember which site. It's one of the free vintage sites online. . .there are many of them out in Internet land. Just Google vintage images.

I added an eyelet lace, a pink lace over it then added the beads. I used my Unity Stamp sentiment to create the sentiment by stamping it on a designer paper that I cut into the label shape using my Nestabilities die.

I also used my Stampin Up card stock and designer papers. . .I'm trying to be very disciplined and use my Stampin Up designer papers. I have so many of them. I added a bit of glitter to the flowers on the image to jazz it up a little.

To top it off, I stuck a pin that I embellished with beads and stuck it to the crochet motif. That's basically it!

Anyway. . .that's it for today! Be sure to stop by Crazy 4 Challenges and play along with us! Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!!